This is a combination of original posts at http://lipamphleteer.wordpress.com/
Non-partisan redistricting is a great idea and it should be enacted. Under the current system, the legislature, or more specifically legislative leaders, draw their own district lines as well as congressional districts. They are able to pick who each member will represent and tailor districts to be safe for the majority party and force the minority party members to face tough races. The Brennan Center explains:
It’s an open secret: more and more legislative districts reflect calculations by those in power about how they can best preserve that power, while fewer and fewer give meaningful representation to communities of voters. Incumbents carve the citizens of their state into districts for maximum personal and partisan advantage, and democracy suffers: neighborhoods are split, competing candidates are drawn out of contention, groups of voters are ‘cracked’ or ‘packed’ to manipulate their voting power. We like to think that voters choose their politicians-but in the redistricting process, politicians choose their voters.
In addition, the current system makes it a lot easier for party leaders in the legislature to enforce discipline. If a junior member of the caucus wants to keep his or her seat, s/he better toe the party line and suck up to legislative leaders. Otherwise s/he may find themselves with a very different, and probably more difficult to hold, legislative district after the decennial census. Members of Congress also have to suck up to legislative leaders during the redistricting process. In the case of congresspeople, they just donate money to the state party leaders. For a rundown of the tricks used during partisan redistricting, see this article.
Even though the current system sucks, it doesn’t look like it is going to change any time soon.
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